Oh yeah, then Rob appeared from behind the hackershelves. He said he turned up at 8AM, and then fell asleep back there.

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Oh yeah, then Rob appeared at about 10:26am from behind the hackershelves. He said he turned up at 8AM, and then fell asleep back there.

Revision as of 11:27, 2 January 2013

So people have been saying there's been a fair amount of sleeping going on in the space. I'm always uncomfortable stating that Noisebridge collectively thinks something, unless there's been real consensus about it, but "not living in the space" is one of those things that really has been established, even if everyone feels a little uncomfortable about strictly defining what "living" means.

About the only way anyone has worked out of consistently dissuading people who have a very good reason for staying overnight at Noisebridge -- which is that they don't have anywhere else to go -- is to turn up at an early hour, and wake them up. I'll call this technique sweigarting, for unknown historical reasons. It's a really painful, uncomfortable thing to do, and is fraught with social awkwardnesses and unanswered questions.

The best way I can handle doing it is to write about what those awkwardnesses are in more detail.

2012-01-02

Cliff, Noisebridge's resident painter, was asleep in the DJ booth next to Steve, the old guy who spends a lot of time browsing the Net on our electronics desk. Scott, a young messy guy was asleep on the couch. Chris, his friend, was next to him, with a Thinkpad, copying down logic tables.

I woke Cliff and Steve up first. I didn't recognise Cliff, but I ended up trying to take photos of both of them, which everyone objected to, even me. I felt sad and annoyed that they were sleeping in their sleeping bags, surrounded by maintenance stuff, in the space. The annoyance wasn't really directed at them, but there was just this agony of knowing that they knew they shouldn't be sleeping here, because they instantly started making protestations that they were just asleep for a few hours, and that they knew what they were doing was wrong. I was obviously in the position of authority, even if I was apologetic. Steve also instantly declaimed "what about the couple on the couch", and I asked him to come help me with them. He didn't, obviously.

Chris asked me if I owned Noisebridge, not accusingly, which also made me feel sad. I think watching her copy down logic tables was the saddest thing though. When I came in on Steve, he was determinedly reading an electronic components manual, and used this as an argument that he was doing something. Chris told me that Scott had taught her a lot, and that she couldn't really ... something... without him.

They all need somewhere to stay, but this isn't it.

Oh yeah, then Rob appeared at about 10:26am from behind the hackershelves. He said he turned up at 8AM, and then fell asleep back there.